Aaron Alexis, 34, a discharged Navy reservist and subcontractor, killed 12 people at the Navy Yard before he was fatally shot in a gun battle with police. He had entered the property with a shotgun, authorities said.

Since August, Alexis had been treated since by the Veterans Administration for mental-health issues, the FBI said.

Guth's tweet brought several angry responses:

@DWGuth Shame on you, I bet you think of yourself as a christian while you are asking God to damn people and wishing their children dead.

"I am angry, frustrated, sad and determined," he said. "The news of the senseless slaughter today at Washington's Navy Yard has me again questioning how we can let this madness continue.

"Frankly, I don't care if I am criticized for being too quick to judge, too harsh in my criticism or too strident in my tone. The time has passed for niceties and tact.

"The blood spilled today is on the hands of the National Rifle Association. I don't care how the NRA tries to spin this. One fact is undeniable: The NRA has championed a gun culture that is shredding our nation's moral authority like armor-plated bullets ripping through flesh."

University officials have defended Guth's right to make such comments.

“Faculty have their own social media accounts and use those to express personal opinions, but those opinions do not represent the university,” KU spokesman Jack Martin told Campus Reform on Wednesday in an email.

From 2004 to 2009, Guth served as the journalism school's associate dean, according to Campus Reform.

A Kansas University journalism professor has blamed the National Rifle Association for Monday's shootings at the Washington Naval Yard that killed 12 people and the gunman.
David Guth, an associate professor of journalism, said this on Twitter on Monday...